OHL this Week: OHL failing to live up to reputation as pipeline to world juniors, NHL draft

The Canada-Russia Series -- which stops in Owen Sound Thursday and Sudbury Monday -- is often billed as an audition for players hoping to be invited to Canada's world junior camp.

Above all else, look for some urgency out there.

The Canadian team has one world junior gold medal over the past eight years -- and that was on home ice at Toronto in 2015 when Connor McDavid and Max Domi led the way, managing to hold off a late Russian charge.

There are plenty of warning signs the upcoming event in Buffalo will mark Canada's last, best chance to win gold for a while.

Take the November NHL draft rankings. They're shocking for Hockey Canada and the Ontario Hockey League.

Many of the scouting services have some subtle differences in their view of players, but one of the more respected ones --Mark Edwards' HockeyProspect.com -- has no Canadians listed in the top 10 picks for 2018 in Dallas.

The only OHLer among the world's elite is Barrie's fine Russian scorer Andrei Svechnikov, and he's hurt right now.

Swedish defenceman Rasmus Dahlin is the top-ranked eligible player at the moment, and you can bet he'll be at the world juniors.

And if there is one thing you learn about international hockey in a hurry, you need legitimate stars and current or future first-round NHL picks on your team to win medals.

The World Under-17 Hockey Challenge is currently being contested in Dawson Creek and Fort St. John, B.C. This tournament is made up of largely major junior rookies, most of whom will be eligible for next year's NHL draft.

Already, the American u-17 team has emerged as clear favourites. This is largely regarded as USA Hockey's best roster at that age group since the squad was led by Auston Matthews and Matthew Tkachuk.

Those two were already in the NHL so they didn't play in last year's world juniors, but their old national mates formed the nucleus of the gold-medal shootout-winning crew at Montreal.

These young Americans, who are already mashing top United States Hockey League teams, will be tough to beat on the international stage for the next few years.

And the Canadians?

The early talk -- depending on how these Canada-Russia games swing things -- is there may not be a single NHL-draft eligible player at Hockey Canada's selection camp next month.

That doesn't happen very often.

And that's still accounting for the fact a handful of teenaged players still young enough to be on that team -- like defenceman Victor Mete of the Montreal Canadiens -- who may not be made available for the tournament by their NHL clubs.

There will be some OHLers on the world junior team, as always. Sarnia's Jordan Kyrou and London's Robert Thomas have given Hockey Canada no reason to keep them off the roster.

But it's clear the circuit will be hard-pressed to match even the seven it placed on the '15 squad -- and certainly no one close to McDavid's star power.

Because of the OHL's history of development success and recruiting power, we expect an awful lot of the league.

We expect them to produce players that make a large impact on the world junior event. We also expect it to provide its share -- and more -- of top-flight talent on NHL draft day, especially during the first hour of it.

Many scouts have acknowledged this is shaping up to be a rough year for the OHL as a world junior and draft leader.

The hope, especially at Hockey Canada, is that's all it is -- one bad season -- and a rebound is on its way.

Living the dream: He's a goal-scoring machine for the resurgent Steelheads. Even before learning Owen Tippett was on his way back from Florida, Michnac helped pull the Trout out of their offensive doldrums. He scored eight goals in three games, including two hat tricks against Owen Sound and Peterborough. In Sudbury, he added two more, and one was the game winner. It's the most impressive three-game goal binge of the young OHL season.

Story so far: The 19-year-old is an interesting case study of the junior import system. He played in Guelph last year after being a second-round (62nd overall) pick and scored 15 goals for a bad team. The Storm decided not to protect him this year to bring in Russian Alexei Toropchenko, a Blues prospect. Mississauga pounced on Michnac with its first-round pick (37th overall) in this past summer's import draft. It has worked.

The numbers: He's clearly going to blow past last year's 15 goals. He has 12 already. The Steelheads' power play is already tops in the league and it's about to add Tippett. If they get Mike McLeod at some point too, watch out.

Marquee Matchup

Sault Ste. Marie at Sarnia, Friday at 7:05 p.m.

OK, so the Sting's big win streak is done and they're coming off two straight defeats out east. But they still have a healthy lead in the standings, right? Wrong. The Greyhounds are breathing down their necks for first place and get the rematch from a couple of weeks ago when they lost in Sarnia despite a fine effort. The Sting knew they wouldn't keep winning forever, but they need to get back on track. This isn't the easiest matchup to accomplish that.

Road to Dallas

Raise your hand if you had Alec Regula logging first defensive pairing minutes for London less than two months into his rookie season. The 6-foot-4 former University of Michigan commit has proved a rather quick learner at the major junior level after playing for the USHL's Chicago Steel last year. During the Knights' rally from a putrid start, he went four straight games with a plus rating and is now plus-4 on the season. Last week, he scored his first OHL goal, in Saginaw. There's more offence coming from the sturdy rearguard, too.

On Fire

The Frontenacs. Kingston is the definition of roller-coaster right now, but it's awfully fun when they're gathering speed. After a blowout loss to North Bay and a couple of overtime nail-biters, the Fronts scorched their next three opponents by a combined 16-3 score. One of those was a 7-1 decision that busted Sarnia's impressive 14-game win streak. This week looms big with home-and-home dates with Peterborough, just ahead of Kingston in the standings.

Ice Cold

Oshawa and Hamilton. Never forget these teams wanted the Memorial Cup this season. It's probably best it landed in Regina. The Bulldogs are the lowest-scoring team in the league, averaging just under 2.5 goals per game. The Generals, on a three-game skid, have stopped scoring lately, too, and were just drubbed 8-0 by Erie. Oshawa has the league's least effective power-play and penalty killing numbers. They need to boost those special teams to be a factor this year.

Numbers Game

23-4-1. The OHL team's record over 14 years of competition in the Canada-Russia series, which stops in Owen Sound Thursday and Sudbury Monday. The Western league split the first two games this week. On paper, it looks like the OHL might be a little light on providing players to the Canadian national junior team this year. A couple of good outings for a few skaters here might help change that conversation.

He said it...

"We sucked."

-- Erie coach Chris Hartsburg to the local Times-News after the Otters suffered a rare home defeat, 7-3 to Kitchener last week. The day game was played in front of about 1,000 local students, who didn't see the reigning OHL champs at their best.